Hamburg maintains close friendly relations with India, one of the most dynamic growth markets in the world. The roots of trade relations with India are centuries old and provide a strong historical foundation for the modern and growing partnership. Since 2007, India Week Hamburg has been an outstanding example of the consolidation of these relations into the modern age.
Bengaluru - India's innovation hub and known as the "Indian Silicon Valley" - plays a central role in this partnership. The location offers enormous opportunities for Hamburg's key clusters, as Bengaluru is a leader in the IT, artificial intelligence and aviation sectors.
Hamburg's expansion of strategic cooperation in aviation, logistics, digitalisation and AI projects as well as the intensification of goods traffic via the Port of Hamburg is already closely linked to the partnership with India.
There is enormous future potential in the joint development of aviation and technology as well as in the expansion of educational partnerships and talent mobility in order to promote the technological and scientific strength of both locations.
India - Bengaluru
Hamburg's connection to India - Bengaluru
HamburgAmbassador Prashant Rao
Prashant Rao was born in Hamburg and studied electrical engineering at the TU Harburg. He has been living in Bengaluru, India since 2009 and works as Director of the Application Engineering Team at MathWorks India. together with his team, he helps customers use mathematical modelling and simulation software to accelerate their work and drive innovation. His work spans across industries - from large corporates to start-ups - across multiple disciplines and industries from the Indian private sector, public sector, and academic institutes.
Prashant's regular involvement in professional forums and discussions on technology R&D megatrends are part of his work. in 2021, he was recognised by AIM as one of the 50 most influential AI leaders in India. He is currently a member of the AIM Leadership Council.
A staunch advocate of diversity in STEM subjects, he actively supports initiatives as a Male Ally. He regularly participates in events such as Women in Tech and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and advocates for more gender diversity and representation in the programmes he organises.
In addition to his professional career, Prashant Rao has a special family tradition: hand shadow puppetry - the art of creating shadow images with his bare hands. He inherited this fascinating art form from his father, Prasanna Rao, who developed it himself and performed it worldwide.
Expertise for Hamburg
Prashant Rao's particular focus is on technology cooperation and partnerships between Hamburg and South India. DeepTech, Artificial Intelligence, Engineering, Aviation, Electromobility and Sustainability are his main focus areas. He has extensive experience with DeepTech start-ups and accelerators as well as in-depth knowledge of industry-academia collaborations.
In addition, Prashant Rao maintains good connections to innovation ecosystems and contributes to their promotion with active contributions to innovation events and strategic networks. Prashant Rao also has experience in building and sustaining the growth of highly innovative development teams in India.